As you know, I was widowed on 9/11 when my husband, United Airlines Flight Attendant Alfred Marchand, was murdered by terrorists using box cutters to slash the throats of flight attendants. Today my 27-year old son is a flight attendant. After repeatedly asking for an invitation to a TSA briefing on your decision to allow knives back on flights, I am outraged at the excuses I have been given. I have the right to comment on this issue. You are ignoring many stakeholders who have a right to be heard and I will not go away without being allowed to comment face-ta-face on this change.

You took a solemn oath to secure not only aircraft but also the passengers and crew aboard. From the start, you mishandled the knives proposal by failing to get input from airlines, flight crews, your own employees or anyone else but your inner circle. The announcement was a complete surprise to the aviation community and a huge blow to 9/11 families. I am sickened by your approach. It’s possible this is the way you did business at the FBI, but it is utterly inappropriate in the job you now hold involving so many important stakeholders.

TSA has repeatedly claimed that allowing knives on passenger flights follows an international standard when in fact there is no international standard. The USA should be the leader in aviation security. We were the ones attacked by terrorists with box cutters. After the Boston bombings, TSA delayed implementation ostensibly to get “more input.” We now know you never intended to seek input from the “public.” I believe the delay was used as a way to distance the knife policy from the bombings and quiet the TSA’s critics. But I will not be silenced or stand by and let the TSA put passengers and crew members at risk the way the US government failed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11.

I request that you schedule a briefing open to all 9/11 family members who wish to attend and to seriously consider their input. You, Sir, still get to go home to your wife every night. It has been almost 12 years since I lost the chance to ever see my husband again. The 9/11 families’ loved ones were stolen from us by men using box cutter blades smaller than the knives you now want to allow on planes. I look forward to your prompt emailed response to my request.

Today and tomorrow on the Hill, there will be a few committee hearings so that legislators can better understand what went wrong leading up to the attempted bombing of NW253 on Christmas. They are (from GovExec):

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee – Hearing [ 09:30 am, 01/20/2010 ]
Full committee hearing on “Intelligence Reform: The Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack,” focusing on the attempted bombing incident on Flight 253 to Detroit on December 25.
Witness(es): Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair; and Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, testify. The chairman, Senator Joe Lieberman, spoke about this committee hearing on NPR this morning.

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee – Hearing [ 02:30 pm, 01/20/2010 ]
Full committee hearing on “The State of Aviation Security – Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?” focusing on the attempted bombing incident on Flight 253 to Detroit on December 25.
Witness(es): TBA

We are proud that Rosemary Dillard was on the Hill today representing NADA/F!

TSA Administrator

Also, much attention was paid to the fact that there was no TSA Administrator in place when the attempted bombing of NW253 occurred. While Senator DeMint has opposed the nomination of Erroll Southers based on perceived differences of labor policy. It was actually Southers’ past abuse of power, in his position as chief of security with the LAX police, that caused wider doubt as to his suitability for the job. He has withdrawn himself from consideration (via CongressDaily and GovExec). I have to say this is a good move, since these recent questions only prevented an efficient confirmation process. And, this position needs to be filled!

Tags: Blog by Jillian GustafsonComments Off on Further Examination of NW253

In the week following the attempted bombing of Flight 253, we’ve already seen several stages in the government response to the incident. And, yes, I use the word “government” broadly, since we are talking about agencies, the executive and legislative branches. And, other goverments have responded too, but here I’ll just talk about the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security

Secretary Janet Napolitano made quite the misstep, when she originally stated that “the system worked (clip from CNN).” In trying to assure people, her point was that the action taken subsequent to the fire on the flight was swift and appropriate. But, it was misinterpreted to mean there was proactive action, which clearly, there wasn’t.

The Transportation Security Administration was swift to implement a modified directive that was supposed to be in place through yesterday. But it was unclear at the time, if it applied to all flights, and for how long. Among some of the actions taken on flights were limiting passenger activity for the last hour of the flight and taking televisions and live maps offline. Since, at least, two bloggers received the directive via email and posted it, there was plenty of online discussion of its contents, relevancy and consistency in implementation. Many passengers were curious to know what would apply to them and the TSA was not very communicative. FoxNews had the story online, before the Department of Homeland Security got involved. Now many outlets are writing about the subsequent subpoenas and investigation. But, here’s the link to the USA Today story on what happened. I can say from my original interpretation, I don’t think they realized until later that they were the only ones who had it.

This is a tough way to start the blog. When I committed to write about aviation issues for NADA/F, I was aware that there would be weeks like this. Like others close to aviation disasters, I am familiar with years-long grief and frustration. Of course, NADA/F’s work in the areas of safety, security, survivability and support allow positive outcomes, even if it takes time.

But today, the day after convicted terrorist, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, was released from his life sentence on ‘compassionate grounds,’ I feel sickened and discouraged. Our thoughts are with the friends and family members of the victims of Pan Am 103. Regardless of his health status, he was convicted of murder on 270 counts and his release is a miscarriage of justice. He ended up serving just days for every life he took. Much as been written about this in the last couple of days, so there isn’t much more for me to say than that.

I received word yesterday from Bob Monetti, whose son Rick was on the flight, that the families will be in New York City in September when Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, arrives for the opening session of the U.N General Assembly. He wrote:

We are planning to give him a welcome worthy of the murderer of our loved ones.